The invention relates generally to the field of labeling, and in particular to the placement of visual labels on optical media, such as compact disks and digital video disks. In one particular embodiment, the invention provides systems and methods for printing a label on the medium while the medium is rotating.
Optical disks, such as compact disks and digital video disks, or digital versatile disks, have recently become a popular form of media for storing digital information. With advances in technology, it is now possible not only to read information from such optical media, but also to record digital information directly onto the media. For example, recordable compact disks (referred to as CD-Rs) may have digital information recorded on them by placing the CD-R into a compact disk recorder that receives the digital information from a computer. Such forms of optical media are thus particularly useful for data distribution and/or archiving.
When using the CD-R or other optical disks for data distribution and/or archiving, it is important to properly label the disks. Because the CD-R is not mass produced, it is not cost effective to silkscreen a label on the disk as is the current method with the CD ROM. Instead, present methods for labeling the CD-R include manually writing identification information on a label and attaching the label to the disk, or by taking a felt tip pen or marker and writing identification information on the surface of the disk itself. However, such techniques are time consuming and error-prone.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods for printing labels directly on optical media in an efficient manner. For example, it would be desirable to provide a printer that could be integrated into a recorder or otherwise associated with a recording system so that labels could be printed on the recording medium at or near the time when the digital information is recorded onto the medium. It would further be desirable if such systems and methods were conducive to printing multiple label entries on an optical medium at different print sessions, such as when archiving data from a computer.